Ridesharing Institute Welcomes Poll Result

News release from the New Zealand Ridesharing Institute

Ridesharing Institute Welcomes Poll Result

AUCKLAND, 19 November 2012 ~ The New Zealand Ridesharing Institute welcomed the results of a Horizon Poll published today that found a majority of Aucklanders want the Government to make a significant contribution to the $2.86 billion City Rail Link. It confirms that the only way the City Rail Link project makes sense for the people of Auckland is if they can find someone else to pay for it.

The findings help confirm the Ridesharing Institute’s argument that the Central Rail Link, while being a wonderful idea, is just too expensive for the number of people who will use it. The report finds that about 14,000 additional people will use the rail, which works out to a capital cost of over $200,000 per full time passenger. This works out to $20 per trip in interest costs alone. Add operating costs, and the subsidy per passenger per day will be well over $60.

This highlights the need for a broader discussion about the cost of transportation infrastructure and how it is used in Auckland. It is very poorly managed.

Each day 400,000 Aucklanders drive alone to work. They take 1.2 million empty seats with them. This is a lot of unused capacity, and the Ridesharing Institute argues that effort should be put into making better use of existing capacity before spending large sums of other people’s money building rail that so few people are expected use.

The New Zealand Ridesharing Institute is a non-profit group of concerned citizens and transportation professionals who believe there is an opportunity to make our transport systems work better by encouraging a much greater level of passengership in existing cars, vans, and buses.

ENDS

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